A Semi-Sober Saturday Night

Scale a wall. Spot a nebula. Circle the park. Then have a nightcap.

Take a bike ride.

The second Saturday of every month, the biking advocacy group Time’s Up! rounds up a peloton for Saturday-night rides through Prospect Park. Go to times-up.org for times and meeting spots. Afterward: Sip a cooldown beer on the spacious patio at Soda Bar (629 Vanderbilt Ave., nr. Park Pl., Prospect Heights).

Get your ping-pong fix.

Invent new ways to spin-serve at the New York Table Tennis Federation in Tribeca (384 Broadway, at White St., lower level; 646-772-2922), which stays open until 11 p.m. on weekend nights. Afterward: The lights are dim enough at Anotheroom (249 W. Broadway, nr. Beach St.) that no one will notice your pong sweat.

Climb a REALLY big rock.

Gowanus’s warehouse-size, graffiti-covered climbing gym Brooklyn Boulders (575 Degraw St., at Third Ave., Gowanus; 347-834-9066) is open until midnight on weekends ($20 for a day pass). Afterward: Catch a show a few doors down at bar–cum–underground performance space Littlefield (622 Degraw St., nr. Fourth Ave.).

Stargaze. In Manhattan.

The Inwood Astronomy Project invites the general public to join it every Saturday at 8 p.m. to examine the night sky from the island’s highest natural point, in Inwood Hill Park. Telescopes provided. Go to moonbeam.net for dates and times. Afterward: Shake off the cold at lively Dominican restaurant Mamajuana Café (247 Dyckman St., nr. Seaman Ave.).

Take the best medicine.

The Peoples Improv Theater, otherwise known as the Pit (154 W. 29th St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-563-7488), has four Saturday shows, none of which will set you back more than twelve bucks. Afterward: Elbow your way through the Breslin Bar (Ace Hotel, 16 W. 29th St., nr. Broadway) for one of the local cask ales.

Advertising

Advertising

So what exactly does “best” mean in a city with thousands of pizza joints, hundreds of celebrity masseuses, and museum-worthy concept shops on every corner? Well, in the case of this, our annual “Best of New York” roundup, there’s a heavy emphasis on what’s new or what has somehow remained virtually unheard of (until now, of course).